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Wenger worried about Arsenal’s “tricky start”

This time last year Arsenal fans were in confident mood ahead of the new season. We had won the FA Cup and had brought Alexis into the fold. We were being linked to Karim Benzema as usual and every post on JustArsenal was saying that we needed a new beast of a DM and a World-Class striker. No change there then!

So we were all dismayed when we were 10 points behind Chelsea after just two months of the season, and didn’t look like we had any chance at all of finishing in the Top Four. So it is no surprise that Arsene Wenger is a little worried about the start of the coming season, although we should have a fitter, fresher squad than last year.

“[Stability] is undervalued but that’s what we want to show,” Le Prof said. “Chelsea have a good stability, especially defensively, and they took advantage of it from the start of last season.

“What you could say is that last year we missed our start for different reasons. One of them was that some players were not mentally ready after the World Cup. It was also because we had the Champions League qualifier and that cost us a lot of energy against Besiktas.

“We have a tricky start again. West Ham look to have bought well and Crystal Palace are a strong team. We have to be ready from the beginning but it will be a tricky start.”

Last year we started off our League campaign with a last gasp win over Palace at the Emirates, followed by draws against Leicester and Everton. This time around we have no pressure of the Champions League play-offs, and, including the Charity Shield, our first four games are all in London! Surely we must hit the ground running?

I think that we will all be disappointed once again because of having our hopes up on somethings that will definately not happen..i dont want to delve into history too much but id like to make a few reminders..2012-13–wenger sells our arguably the best mf/dm in song to barca..was no: two in player of the season chart…to make the matters worst,our player of the season is sold to man utd to make sure that they win the league for the 20th time..expecting wenger to buy a top dm, what does he do–he trusts a sick diaby and we all know what happens later.2013-14–we have a kinda strong squad..what we need is a top dm and a striker..wenger bids 40m + 1 for suarez and it backfires..we are beaten by aston villa and the pressure is mounting on wenger and what does he do…he panic buys ozil who we clearly didn’t need since we had super santi and he ignores the dm n striker and position..we all know what happens later..last season he did it again..once again ignoring the dm and then buying man utd deadwood striker..a dm in coquelin proved him wrong by practically bailing us out so guys don’t be surprised if we buy another right back or a left winger these transfer period..its how wenger rolls

i like how you conveniently only notice SANCHEZ ONLY…your little pod can only think of just ONE LIKE….ONE!!!!!! player…i left him coz he was a signing that we needed…name another mr budd and you will scrape all the hair from your head

The excuses have begun!!!! Instead of signing players early, this fool is busy talking about Man utd’s policy and already making excuses for failure. We have literally sat and watched as the likes of kondogbia, schneiderlin,Martinez,vidal have moved to other clubs, and then the excuse will be “there are no players in the market who can improve our squad “

Can’t wait anymore. Win, Lose or Draw…it should be an exciting season with teams like West Ham, Newcastle, Crystal Palace etc. adding some fine talent to their line ups and becoming more competitive.
I see it like this…right now, our team is not good enough for me to hope for an EPL win or challenge for the EPL….so I’ll get that off my mind and just enjoy watching the games regardless of the outcome. I will apply a more objective approach to watching games. Maybe with a few more REQUIRED signings, I can watch the games with some expectation and belief.
However, it should be an exciting season. I am curious to see what Liverpool do this coming season with all their attacking options after adding Benteke especially if Sturridge stays fit the entire season.
Depay for Man Utd seems like a hot prospect and a massive talent…a hazard in the making? Rooney will be back up top where he is very lethal. Will Utd finally click?
As for us…well, we’ll just have to wait and see. The striker we get defines our season…believe it or not. Our next 2 signings will give more clarity. If we are getting no one, I think its quite easy to predict our season. 4th place championship? But we can expect to see Gabriel become a regular starter. Can Walcott have a good season or is he gone by the end? Will the likes of Sanchez and Ozil stay on if we don’t win the big ones finally? Injuries will be inevitable, so signings are crucial.
Chelsea will be strong again and its hard to see any weaknesses in their team especially if they get Joss stones. Will the real Falcao show up? And then you have Man City…who are adding some speed back to their attack and we know will do what it takes to add some quality to their squad before the window runs out.

I predict a very difficult EPL campaign to win and I know I will get some stick for this but as of right now I predict Man City will win the 2015/2016 EPL.

But i wonder did Arsene Wenger look at most of the players in last year’s team before making these comments.I mean when some players who are inconsistent are playing you are gonna have several problems and with arsenal that translates into very tricky starts.We need to sort out the problem in the team.He talked about chelsea’s defensive stability but did he also look at the chelsea defenders.They are quality.How about us we have needed strengthening in some positions for years and they go ignored.Hence since they are ignored the players playing there will always be found wanting.Arsene needs to look at the team as a whole and ask himself whether the team is strengthened and having the adequate quality in a specific position.If he does not do this he should expect tricky starts from tricky players.

wenger is years behind when it comes to transfer window diaby stayed at arsenal so long not to mention ryo/park/santos/arshavin/squallacinator/djorou etc while we could have given that money to kepp important players now gioudless is set to sign a 3 year contract for 130/w while theo contract talks are going on he too wants around 100+/w

He is the ideal player for us: very efficient on the RW, great work rate and attitude to recover the ball and he is about the only player who has the potential to replace our unique Santi in a few years.

I’m not worried at all. We have all the players to win even without Alexis. We also have a top notch gk. We have also a season under our belts where most of the players have played with each other. Most important is for our players to have belief and play hard.

With Ozil, Cazorla, Koscielny, Cech, Walcott, OX, Giroud, Coquelin and others we have more than enough quality too win without Alexis for a few matches.

What a wan ker this leo. Season did not began yet he’s splitting the fan base. I think there’s no fan today wanting Wenger in or out. Most don’t care, they just want to win EPL no matter who’s in charge.

Yeah but the reality is the to thing are closely related,If Wenger stays we won’t win the league or the champions league any time soon.For us to win these type of trophies a top coach must come in,there aren’t many who can achieve this but i believe 2 good candidates are out of work Ancelotti and Klopp,Wengrs contract should be finished by the 2016/17 season god willing.I say God willing because Wengers been talking about how he doesn’t want to retire,obvious signs that he wants an extension to his contrct,i am one Arsenal fan who doesn’t want to see an extension

Not AKB’s Leo, just supporters who would rather support the team, than constantly drag it down.

We want some depth in key positions, I get it. We would like an upgrade in the striker position, I get it.

But don’t and will never, appreciate the extent to which certain fans rubbish the club to try to make their personal points and drive a wedge between the fan base (with the now very tiresome AKB’s v AOB crap).

Bayern get Vidal for 26m. I thought we should have gone for him. He’s the combative type of midfield player we have been lacking. I hope we get a DM soon. Coquelin just cannot play 60 games a season. It will be the same as losing Koscielny as we did last year early on in the season then conceding so many stupid goals. If Coq gets injured, Arteta is just not up to it as a DM.

Wilshere played as DM for England. Your point being? Just because one plays for a coach a certain position it doesn’t mean is their natural position. He will replace Schweinsteiger, hardly a DM, more like CM (don’t want to say B2B because you will ask too much from him).

Vidal not a pure DM like Coq definitely but I feel massive upgrade on Arteta. Player with combative attitude similar to Sanchez. I can see people feeling he’s similar to Ramsey, Wilshere and with CM position being made his own by Cazorla, I can see why we didn’t go for him. But the winning mentality and combativeness he would have brought to the midfield would have been excellent especially for 26m.

The atmosphere was great. It was nothing you try to portrait. I fail to understand how the railway station incident counts as Emirates atmosphere. I suggest you go lecture yourself because in the last two years there have been 3 trophies. Everything comes to a climax now. 4th is not a trophy (we finished 3rd, but you lot it is always that : spouting fake $hit just to try and make an argument) but it opens the door for the most coveted trophy in the world. So, it is a good start.

Budd Budd Budd, fair enough we have won two fa cups back to back, but the point is that this squad can achieve much more success than that with just two quality additions, that’s the song every transfer window. The whole world knows it,Santi knows it,Thierry Henry knows it,YOU KNOW IT…. WENGER KNOWS IT, but will he do anything about it?? probably no,because he is an arrogant, proud,stubborn dictator

There is no logic in saying we won’t win anything with our current squad.

But you said it better….much more can be acquired with two more players.

For me it’s a matter or psychological impact. Statement to others. Bit when people say that with the current squad it’s 4th and with 2 more it’s EPL and ucl and God knows what else….it’s just not real …no logic.

You contradict yourself. You talk about how this squad can achieve but then you say this squad needs additions. THIS squad. Make up your mind. If we have two additions (I am not going to name names, just for the sake of argument) then it wouldn’t be the same squad, isn’t it? You really think they don’t discuss these things among themselves? You think Cazorla is coming to say we will probably need a CB (I am just saying) without having the blessing from the club?
What is wrong to look for players which will actually complement by adding quality in this team as you said? Buy Vidal? And then what? Bench both Ramsey and Wilshere. Not to mention Chambers. Same with Schweinsteiger. Buy Falcao? For what? Last season people here cried because LvG was ahead of Wenger securing Falcao. And Shaw. And Di Maria. Buy Reus. What to do with Theo then? What to do with Sanchez? Move him again? What to do with Ozil? What to do with Ox?
OK, we need a striker because Giroud fell from the grace of justarsenal lurkers or tv pundits (including Henry). I get that. Would you pay 50 million for Cavani? Like really? This guy never gained the form wherever he played. Buy Benzema for 40 mil or Lacazette for the same price. Really? Is that the price to improve 10% over Giroud in a bad day? I have favorites, I admit, on who we should sign but when I am looking at the price I say, you know what, fu ck it! And what message do you transmit to THIS SQUAD when you actually replace one of them just because you have bought an expensive player who’s going to play anyway. What’s wrong having FAITH in the players you coach, mentor, love etc ? Why not believeing you can win with them? Why not giving it a shot? The kids grew up, they are hungry and they want to show what they are made of. Sure, it can be the same as it was two years ago but is there ANY GUARANTEE that buying big is going to actually deliver you trophies? Chelsea sold last season, they understood that cohesion is key. They came on plus because there are fools like PSG taking someone like Luis for 50 million. Look at them now, they will not buy. Because the group is compact and they feel good among themselves. I am ready to bet that Chelsea and even Manure will give City a run for their money this season. And City spent. A lot!

By you logic we shouldn’t have acquired Cech then because Ospina did a terrific job in the second half.

With Arteta playing we don’t play with a traditional DM. Why can’t we have done that with Vidal? Play Vidal and Coquelin in central midfield and push Cazorla up to CAM in tough away games like Stamford Bridge. Vidal was a world class player available in mould similar to Viera. And 26m is an extremely reasonable price for a proven world class player.

Point is we have to improve our squad even if it makes players like Walcott, Wilsher and Coquelin or anybody unhappy. You should be fighting for your place in the team and stepping up. Didn’t a player like Ashley Young usurp Di Maria at united?

I think that’s unfair. Ospina was bought as a second choice but then took the gloves due to a failure on Szcz’s part. Now we have got a number one and Ospina is back were intended.

Arteta is a back up option and we still don’t know if Flamini will be replaced. There isn’t a hope of Vidal deputising for Coq. Then if played we would have too many similar players in our first team lineup whereas Arteta is not in the first team starting lineup.

Hafiz, you should no only too well what the policy of our club is by now. And Wenger. We look to the future as well as the present and for years even relied heavily on this. Even in Wenger’s hay day he brought youngsters through.

Not the same situation or context, Chelsea sealed the title and handed half their youth team starts, we lost vs Spurs in early 2015 when we had our revival and were trying to finish as high as we could. Hardly comparable situations